Lam Research Corporation (LRCX) vs Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

Lam Research Corp is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment. The company specializes in deposition and etch technologies, which involve building layers on a semiconductor wafer and selectively removing patterns from each layer. Lam holds the leading market share in etch and ranks a clear second in deposition. It has greater exposure to memory chipmakers, particularly in DRAM and NAND. Its major customers include some of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, such as TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and Micron.

Microsoft Corp develops and licenses software for both consumer and enterprise markets. The company is best known for its Windows operating systems and Office productivity applications. Its business is organized into three broadly equal segments: Productivity and Business Processes, which includes legacy Microsoft Office, cloud-based Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype, LinkedIn, and Dynamics; Intelligent Cloud, which includes Azure infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service offerings, Windows Server, and SQL Server; and More Personal Computing, which includes Windows Client, Xbox, Bing search, display advertising, and Surface laptops, tablets, and desktop devices.